Drink Eat Love

Where have I been?

It has been a fast and furious year. Starting off with a bang on a quick trip to Piemonte and Toscana and then being robbed of my first real winter. Then hard charging nights at Del Posto and then I was then off to my first VinItaly, which was amazing and inspiring. And then....my year has been about one thing and one thing only: The Master Sommelier Exam. Every free moment of my day and night were reserved for study and/or tasting. My amazing wife was there to help me out and take me out when she knew I needed it. The test was in July and I am happy to say that, though I am not yet a Master Sommelier, I passed one portion of the test and am looking forward to next year's exam.

My goal for DrinkEatLove is provide you with a deeper understanding of what drives my passion and my thoughts on the world of food and wine. I look to post one to two times per month with in depth looks at the world of food and wine. I will be using my Twitter: @DrinkEatLove and Instagram: DrinkEatLove accounts for more tasting notes and up to the minute notes on food and wine.

So to catch you up on what I have been seeing, eating and drinking...here is are a few photos of 2012

Up close and personal with Petrus

Meat-topia with the family in Brooklyn

Ride home from work on the L

Home cooking with all ingridents from Eataly

The best sommelier team in NYC (missing my main man Massi!)

Two new Master Sommeliers: John Ragan of USHG and Yoon Ha of Benu

Finally made it back to Texas - first time in 4 years!

Yea...it was good

Wilco in the rain...wet but tons of fun

A trip up the Hudson to Bannerman Castle

Home cookn' at our Brooklyn home

How I study

 

Looking forward to introducing you all to what's next

 

Art and looking for a drink

"Where the Wild Things Are" is a seminal work that since my first viewing as a little boy has always made me smile. The Jewish Contemporary Museum is showing an exhibit titled, "There's a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak" and being fans of Maurice Sendak we decided to go. Neither Shauna or I had been to the museum and had wanted to go for a while. The space was formally a power station for San Francisco and has been re-imagined into a world-class museum by Daniel Libeskind.  It is a large space that has three dedicated rooms for shows,  The Sendak exhibit took me back to my childhood and I did not realize just how many books he either wrote or did the art for, his influence on my life was immense. Not knowing it until yesterday, I owe much to Mr. Sendak, his drawings helped shape my ability to imagine. If you are in San Francisco or at least near it you should take the time to see the exhibit.

Mom's coming to town

Call me a "mama's boy" or whatever but I love my mom and I'm totally stoked she is coming to town this weekend! Though she is only here for two days we have a full weekend! Saturday we are making pizzas at home and Sunday we are going out to celebrate our second wedding anniversary at Gary Danko. Shauna and I have talked about going to Restaurant Gary Danko for years and we are excited to share the experience with Richard and Mom! Yea for Mommy!

I made the right choice

(The view from Domaine Weinbach in Kaysersberg, Alsace)

A spectacular finish

(A view of the Piesporter Goldtropfchen vineyard along the Mosel river)

I have just ended my tour of the Terry Theise portfolio of Germany producers and this has been the single most educational, heart warming, and amazing wine trip I have yet to experience. I was extremely fortunate to be with Hiram Simon of the Vienna/Winewise company of Berkeley, California. Hiram is the California distributor for this portfolio and has relationships spanning twenty plus years with many of the growers we saw. I cannot thank him enough for allowing me to tag along and learn from all of his experience.  In five days Hiram and I tasted wines from thirty-one estates and visited twenty-seven in person. Each tasting was held in the kitchen, living room, or parlor of the actual family. The ability to taste with the growers themselves in their homes was amazing. Many of the estates have been in the same family from 250 to 500 years and the history is draped on the walls. As we sat and tasted generations of growers from the past watched us enjoy their family legacy continue. I will post more about each winery when I return to the states but in the meantime here are some photos of my trip.

Three Little Pigs

This past Monday Shauna and I enjoyed a meal that was so memorable it took me a week to formulate the words to describe it. As you may know I have quite the affinity for pig and the moment I heard that La Ciccia was hosting a Sardinian family-style suckling pig dinner I jumped at the chance to get a reservation, luckily we got the last two seats.

small medium large

This Friday I got the "crud" that is going around my office. All weekend long I have been really wanting to enjoy a nice glass of wine so I could write about it, but I would rather not be sick so I have abstained from the "sauce". Since I can't have a drink and I'm only "eating" bland foods I thought I would plug my favorite blogger and her blog: small medium large.

small medium large is my wife's blog. Shauna is a graphic designer for Hello Lucky! a custom letter press house based in San Francisco. SML is about, in Shauna's words, "...designey things and stuff I like." So enjoy her perspective on design and get the scoop on all the new trends in fashion, design, color and whatever else she finds.

Sanlucar Recollections, Part I

If Flamenco is the soul of traditional Andalucia, and bullfighting its heart then, undoubtedly, manzanilla sherry is the blood that courses through its veins. And if you've never had manzanilla from the barrel, you've never REALLY had manzanilla. That's why, even after more than three months have passed, I feel compelled to write about our visit to manzanilla country, or rather city: Sanlucar de Barrameda.

Flor in your wine?

Yesterday And Today

(ed. ~ Shauna, guest restaurant reviewer, chimes in under Jeff's name. Going forward, she'll be posting under her own. Welcome, Shosho!)

We ended up going to Hier et Aujourd’hui twice in four days (actually, we went three times in five days, but I’ll get to that later). Pudlo Paris gave the restaurant “This year’s value for money award” and after being denied entrance on Monday night (full, or we got there too late…that whole language barrier thing), we couldn’t wait to go back Tuesday, this time with a reservation.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!!!!

Shauna and I have arrived, and my surprise worked! Instead of going straight to Italy, I surprised her this morning and we are staying in Paris for the week. I strung her along all the way to us looking at the departures monitor for a flight to Milan that did not exist. When I asked her if she want to stay in Paris for a week she did not believe me and was a bit dumbstruck. I have been planning this for almost 9 months with my father and it has been so tough keeping it a secret from Shauna but I am glad we did. To see her smile made it worth it.